The increasingly strict statutory regulations on permissible pollutant emissions of motor vehicles in which internal combustion engines are mounted require that the pollutant emissions be kept as low as possible in the operation of the internal combustion engine. This can be done on the one hand by reducing the pollutant emissions, which form during the combustion of the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder of the internal combustion engine in question. On the other hand, exhaust gas aftertreatment systems are being used in internal combustion engines that convert the pollutants formed during the combustion process of the air/fuel mixture in the respective cylinders into harmless substances. In particular, in the case of gasoline internal combustion engines, three-way catalytic converters are used as exhaust gas catalytic converters. In this context, it must be ensured that the components of the exhaust gas aftertreatment system also function in the desired nature and manner over a long period of operation and errors are detected in a reliable manner.